


Servalan's Rise

by JackieSBlake7



Category: Blake's 7
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-23
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-07-16 20:09:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7283026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackieSBlake7/pseuds/JackieSBlake7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A few ideas on Servalan's activities</p>
            </blockquote>





	Servalan's Rise

Servalan’s rise to power

‘In my position one never approves anything until it is an undisputed success.’  
Servalan to Travis in ‘Project Avalon’

Servalan started young. While she had a background that provided useful connections, and strings that were pulled so that she was able to escape some of the drudgery of the officer cadets’ course. She had quickly learnt enough to recognise the advantages of denouncing Kasabi for promoting treason as it would bring her to the attention of her superiors while eliminating several of her fellow cadets, as potential rivals. #Whether# the course being promoted was likely to bring greater stability than the present system was beside the point – Servalan would not be associated with anything she could not control. Kasabi says towards the end of the episode Pressure Point that she should have helped Servalan. One possible interpretation of this is that Kasabi – who is a rebel when we meet her – was attempting to create change in the Federation’s system from within, and her shift into rebellion was the result of Servalan’s actions and a realisation that the system could not be so changed. This is compatible with Kasabi’s last remark – if Kasabi could have allied herself with Servalan as she rose through the ranks, she might have been able to affect things in a subtle way.

Servalan has the ambition, skill and ruthlessness to rise to the top under by herself – she shows no sign of dependency upon others for favours – with the exception of Travis (the ‘virus balls’ in ‘Project Avalon’ and the three advanced pursuit ships she has slightly later).

Her rise to the Supreme Commander was particularly rapid, and not just because she made use of whatever connections she could – and she benefited from the Federation’s policy of recognising talent rather than gender or point of origin. Like many people from the less populated worlds where local names were the norm she used only one name offworld: those leaving her planet of origin were sufficiently uncommon not to need the planetary designator adopted by some: and their names were unlikely to be borne by others in the military. Some of the established families might promote the advantages of belonging to the Inner Worlds, but with due ambition and skill they could be ignored. The titles that accrued to the office of Supreme Commander were fossilised and retained by rote rather than significance – as those of many leaders in the past had been – the vanishing of her first lover had resulted in the switching of her attention to power at any cost, though the matter was more complex.

When the “Blake Problem” became an issue, Servalan was fairly new to her appointment – her predecessor had been removed because the battle in which the London and the ship since named the Liberator had not been predicted. She had sufficient authority, despite being rebuked by Bercol and Rontane, speaking on behalf of the President, to appoint Travis into the military structure, over the protests of her inferiors. She was able to manipulate the situation thereafter, despite Travis’ manifest failures, to her advantage, despite Joban’s and others’ occasional claims that they would withdraw support – a manifestation of their failure in her view, as they only stated their intention rather than acted. 

She had intended using Orac to plan her long term goal of achieving the Presidency, but she was able to work without the computer. There was only one occasion when her planning failed, and she backed the wrong side in the regular power struggles and had to spend a short time under house arrest. She was following a well worn path – Durkim had little hesitation in going from a formal protest at not being able to leave Space Command to recognising the new reality and congratulating her on her success – a mere formality at this point: he was rewarded for his foresight – with survival. Had she failed – as was not unknown, and was to happen in the wake of events on Geddon, Durkim would have switched sides again as readily, merely claiming that he had felt it best to mouth whatever was necessary to survive – and his statements would have been accepted for the face, and life, saving platitudes they were.  
Given the nature of the Federation there was considerable overlap between the civilian and military administrative structures – the Terra Nostra were somewhat separate – and Servalan had had no difficulty in handling the situation. She was able to manipulate the Regional Governors’ meetings to eliminate Le Grand and her associates – at least they had had the sense to realise that it was necessary to include a connection to Earth in their attempted coup.

In ‘Trial’ Bercol and Roncane recognise Servalan as ruthless and ambitious, but do not denounce or deride her for this. (Combining the evidence from ‘Trial’, ‘Voice from the Past’ and ‘Star One’ it could be inferred that those at the top of the civil and political administrations were jockeying for power, in a variously ruthless ‘war of all against all.’) She was appointed Supreme Commander by the President, whose status will be diminished if Servalan’s name is besmirched – unless, probably, he prepares the situation beforehand.

As Sleer she was, on some levels, a failure – killing those who recognised her rather than attempting to manipulate them to further her plans – if she had any. A Commissioner she was when encountered on Heliotrix, and there is little indication that she advanced: knowledge that the rebels had access to an antidote to Pylene 50 would have been disadvantageous to Sleer. This would apply to some extent even if knowledge of its existence was merely a statement by the rebels. She might well have written a security manual, and her flamboyance persisted – but she continued to pursue “her” group of rebels rather than a plan that would return her to the Presidency she claimed was stolen from her. 

Even with Avon’s group her significance was declining – her presence may have been deduced with Egrorian, but Zukan’s ambitions were seen as sufficient for his actions – Servalan’s presence is unnoticed: as the group go to Gauda Prime she is only mentioned, in passing, in the past. There is no obvious reason, even, why she would be going to GP herself: Zukan’s associates – if she had been intriguing with them – would have pointed interested Federation personnel towards Xenon, and they were probably grateful for his elimination by those with no overt ambitions in the region.


End file.
